Punxsutawney Chucks beat Dutch soccer 2-0 Saturday

Photo by Jim Mulcahy
Dutchman Scott Barber, 12, takes control of the ball from a Punxsy player during the second half of Saturday afternoon’s match played at the SMAHS soccer field.

By

Jim Mulcahy

The St. Marys Area Flying Dutch soccer team saw their record slip to 4-4 on the season as the Punxsutawney Chucks handed the Dutch a 2-0 loss Saturday afternoon at the SMAHS soccer field.
Neither team scored in the first half as the game was played on fairly even terms with neither team being able to gain much of an advantage.
The second 40 minutes saw the Chucks take charge as they recorded the victory.
In the first half Punxsy outshot the Dutch by an 8-5 margin. Dutch keeper Brett Lanzel came up with five saves in the first half.
In the first half the Dutch defenders, Matt Hoffman, Damien Wensel, Scott Barber and Deric Luvaas were kept busy.
The Chucks scored with 33:42 left in the game to take the 1-0 lead.
Punxsy wasted little time putting another goal on the board as they scored with 30:34 left.
For the game, the Chucks outshot the Dutch 16-8. Punxsy had 12 corner kicks to the Dutchmen’s three.
“We played even with them in the first half and then they came out strong in the second half,” said St. Marys coach Russ Micale.
“There was a 10-minute gap when they scored their goals. We started to come back but it was too little too late,” said Micale.
The Dutch will play host to the Johnsonburg Rams Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the SMAHS soccer field.